Marblekin
This mysterious people emerged from the ground in Tealrift in the year 1320, exactly a thousand years since a fisherman on the Aeravan coast witnessed the first centennial flare. Physiology The Marblekin have a very unique physiology compared to other races, and are completely androgynous. Slender and somewhat reminiscent of Arklanders, they are covered in rocky formations and natural armor,. They seem to have been designed with a special purpose in mind, as if they were shaped by the will of dust itself. All spirits, however, deny any involvement in their creation. Marblekin are not born as other species are, but seem to be awoken from the magic in Tealrift. When two Marblekin decide to bond, which happens through some form of telepathy, they are encased in a shell of energized dust. Upon emerging again, a new Marblekin is with them, awoken just like the first back in 1320 FR. The Marblekin are also able to mate with the Arklanders, which further reinforces the popular belief that they were consciously created to be similar. The same bonding process takes place, but instead of a dusty cloud enveloping the two, the Arklander is made pregnant after the act. Naturally, this only works on female Arklanders, but the bonding process can take place with partners of any race or sex. Origins When they first emerged in 1320 FR, most believed the Marblekin to be a mistake of nature, an abomination that was never meant to be. But in the year 1968 FR, when the Blind Congregation resigned and revealed the many secrets of the Library of Zeahle, the Marblekin were proven to be anything but a mistake. All spirits had denied involvement in creating the Marblekin, but the Blind Congregation revealed that Morianisi was indeed responsible. When the first centennial flare was spotted, Morianisi had already begun a long and tedious process to create her new promised people after her own design. The Homeborn Morianisians had failed her, and she sought to give birth to a new species that could harness the power of Black Dust without the help of lesser "unworthy" spirits. And so, after a thousand years, the first Marblekin were born from the soil in Tealrift. The Morianisian followers condemned the Marblekin and were ready to march to war to exterminate them. Morianisi did nothing to intervene, but her armies were stopped by Ivirixis, who had taken an interest in the Marblekin, and decided to let them stay, since they were born in Hearth, a continent that was under his rule. Yet again, Morianisi let the events play out, confident that her new promised people would find a way to remove the false worshipers and find their way to her. But the Marblekin were weak and brittle, and very few, if any, had an interested in joining the Morianisians in Parndra, who outright called for genocide. Most of them remained for years in Hearth, and were very rarely seen in Cradle or any of the other continents until the situation stabilized in the later generations.